Over Gary Williams‘ time in College Park, numerous Maryland basketball fans have been quick to point out about the number of Baltimore and Maryland-based basketball players who leave the area to go to other universities and institutions and find success there.

There have been exceptions to that belief over the years-most notably guard Juan Dixon-and last week, Gary Williams and Maryland proved the doubters wrong yet again by landing four-star recruit and the 37th ranked high-school recruit in the nation in guard Nick Faust, who plays his high school ball at City College right around the corner from where Memorial Stadium used to lie.

ESPN U had him ranked the 9th shooting guard overall and has him at a 95-ranking. He also earned a four-star recruit status by Scouts Inc as well as ESPN U.

He had received offers from other schools such as Florida State, Villanova, Marquette and Oregon State, but in the end he chose the hometown school on a live ESPNU broadcast last week.

“It was a long process, but Maryland started recruiting me over the summer time. After that, it just felt like a second home to me, so that’s why I decided to go there,” Faust told Drew Forrester of “The Morning Reaction” Tuesday.

Credit Maryland assistant coaches Keith Booth and the new addition in Bino Ranson with the commitment.

In the end, while some kids want to get away from their current surroundings to go to school, Faust said being close to his family and friends was too much to pass up on.

“I was thinking about other places at first, but then I thought about my family and staying close to home, things like that,” he said.

And much like the former Maryland native who came on to join Gary Williams’ team in Dixon, Faust told Drew Forrester that he models his game after Juan Dixon.

Faust has taken City College to the last two 2A State Championships before transferring from John Carroll. In his junior year last winter, he averaged 19.7 points per game and 5.3 rebounds, which caught the eye of many a Division-1 programs.

The only knock on Faust may be his size. At 6’6”, 175, Faust may need to grow a little more, but the experts are certain that Coach Williams will get him in the weight room and will bulk him up the way he did with Dixon and Lonny Baxter from that National Championship team.

But Faust does know this. He likes Williams’ game-plan when it comes to playing the game of basketball.

“I think I fit very well in the style of play with the flex offense,” he said.

“But he knows that he still needs to improve so that he can live up to his full potential, and when he joins the team in 2011, he knows that he will be ready to compete alongside the likes of former St. Frances guard Sean Mosely.

“Right now, I am just working on my game every day,” Faust said, “getting stronger, just to get ready for the season and get ready for college.”

Tune into WNST and WNST.net as we continue to follow the Terps as we prepare for the 2010 season! WNST-We Never Stop Talking!